water leaking from the side of house due to soil? (contractor, cost)

[heuerfan]

I had a contractor give me an estimate on redoing my bathroom in the basement. When he removed some of the wall paper he noticed the sheetrock was damp and moldy. The side of the house where the basement bathroom is located is all soil, the previous owner planted lots of flowers/plants along the side of the house.

The contractor suggested to remove it all and install concrete slabs and having it sloped so the water would run away from the house. Has anyone have experience with this, any idea of the cost?

I did some search and came up with the term "regrade" is this what is needed to be done, or can I just hire someone and digout the soil and pour concrete?

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

[VA Yankee]

Removing soil and putting concrete in seems Ludacris, just regrade the soil away from the house so any water will runoff. Here is an example

[heuerfan]

Dont' think my problem is the water coming from the downspout, its this entire side. See picture with red arrow, that is where my basement bathroom is located and the contractor said water could be leaking because of the entire side.

The second picture is what I am thinking about doing, concrete slabs sloping away from the house so no chance of water leaking from this side of the house.

[Glad2BHere]

You would THINK that putting concrete would solve the issue but it may not. I would not do it. Your more likely issue is the gutter. Are the gutters buried? If so, I would have the gutter removed from the ground and a leader put leading away from the house about 5 feet, above ground.

[kayo_michael]

I second the opinion on no concrete.

1. It doesn't guarantee a fix
and
2. All you need is to pitch the yard slightly to run rain and irrigation water away from the house.

If you REALLY wanted to put some water proof material around the house, put down plastic weed barrier and just mulch over it. Way cheaper.

[heuerfan]

Thanks for the replies, yes the gutters run straight into the soil. Not sure what I'm going to do at this point, will wait to spring to re-evaluate.

[Mr.Malakalot]

Originally Posted by heuerfan

Dont' think my problem is the water coming from the downspout, its this entire side. See picture with red arrow, that is where my basement bathroom is located and the contractor said water could be leaking because of the entire side.

The second picture is what I am thinking about doing, concrete slabs sloping away from the house so no chance of water leaking from this side of the house.

you need to dig out the drainage area for your downspout and fill it back in with rocks and gravel. It seems the run off is just going staright down into the ground and then soaking into your house. If you remodel the basement drylock the walls when their bare.

[peabodyn]

Cut the leader a foot from the soil, attach an elbow and a 5 foot length of leader and direct the water away from the house.

See if that solves the issue.

Total cost = $10.00

[manhasset hills1]

Is your house on the bottom of a hill or slope? Take another picture of your house in relation to the rest of the block and surrounding area. Concrete sloping away from your house is not the answer because that only takes care of SURFACE water from the downspouts or roof not the flow of water under the ground from surrounding areas. For example, if your house is towards the bottom of a hill then the general flow of water UNDERGROUND will be towards your house. If that is the case then you need to dig a trench around the outside of the house and install a waterproof barrier membrane followed by drainage system that will lead to a concrete dry well.

[heuerfan]

The run off from the gutters going into the ground seem to be exiting out into the sidewalk via 4" pvc pipeing, perhaps there is leak or clog within the piping causing problems?

My house is neither on a hill or slope, pretty flat.

Thanks for all the advice and replies.